Tossing my recent self-pubbing and e-pubbing experience out there

[merrihiatt]

Latest stats.

It's been one week since the first e-book became free on Amazon. I may have confused my dates earlier as I wasn't tracking anything the day it became free. I started tracking the next day. Sorry if there was any confusion there. The e-book was listed free on Amazon on Tuesday, October 18th. I noticed it around 6:00 or 7:00pm in the evening. So, the figures above are for one week.

The free e-book is still in the Top 100 Free Kindle Book List, at #46 currently and #9 in its specific category (fiction, romance, contemporary).

The 2% theory is still ringing true. For every 100 downloads of the free book, 2 other e-books are purchased, almost entirely from the second and third book in the trilogy, although a few copies of other e-books have been purchased (very minimal).

I haven't been including sales from the UK, DE, or FR because they only account for about 9 sales. I'm not even sure if the freebie is being offered in other countries. I'm only tracking sales at Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.

I've had quite a range of reviews, so that has been interesting. I didn't realize the moderate Christian content would become an issue (some felt it wasn't enough Christianity and others felt it was too much, even calling it a "hidden" Christian novel). At least it's not being ignored!!!

 

[ccarver30]

Thanks so much for sharing this! I may have to break down and lower my prices!

 

[merrihiatt]

Latest stats as of 10-26-11 at 6:13pm.

Two percent sales to downloads is still holding (actual percentage .0225), not counting sales in other countries. Down to #56 on Kindle Top 100, although #7 in the specific genre category.

 

[JanDarby]

Thank you for sharing this. The ratio of sales at two percent of free downloads information is something I haven't seen calculated anywhere else.

 

[merrihiatt]

I was trying to look at the data and see what kind of pattern or trend developed (i.e., did the time of day make a difference in the number of downloads/purchases or the day of the week). The biggest factor, of course, was offering the first book free. I wish I could crawl inside readers' heads and know why they chose to purchase the other books and why they didn't. That information would be incredibly helpful.

I also have a range of reviews (from worst book ever to I loved it and want more). Every reader is looking for "something" and I'm glad some found it in my book and for those who didn't, I'm sure they will find what they are looking for in another book.

At first the negative reviews wigged me out, but I'm here to learn, too. I set my ego at the back door and really read the reviews as if I were seeing the book for the first time. I could see why they made the points they did (doesn't mean I agree with some of those points), so that was a really good experience for me. And, since no one had invested even a dime in the book, I thought the varying reviews showed that no one had "stacked the deck" in my favor. Obviously not! Ha!

I am very curious to see what the reviews will be for the other two books in the trilogy. One person has read all three books and really liked them (which is a lovely little boost to my self-esteem), but I do know that other people may not. It's that whole "developing thick skin" thing.

I read on an author's blog the other day (I wish I could remember which one, so sorry that I can't give credit to whoever wrote this), and they were talking about how they never read reviews because it drives them nuts, but they have no problem driving to the bank to deposit their royalty checks. I thought that was a very good perspective. Uncle Jim has posted several times that any review is a good thing and I think that's absolutely true (although it doesn't always feel that way in the moment).

ETA: I forgot to mention that if you want to know the ratio, simply divide your book sales by the number of free downloads. The percentage will change as the downloads and sales change.

 

[AdamR85]

I don't know if anyone has seen this, but Neil Gaiman talks about putting up American Gods for free in another country (Russia I think) to forestall illegal pirating and saw his physical book sales shoot through the roof. He talks about this here.

Also, since the e-pub movement is gaining strength, has anyone considered writing a serialized novel? Dickens built his career by running his stories as magazine serials with a new chapter each week. One potential way of boosting sales for stand-alone novels would be to release each chapter individually, sequentually dropping the price on preceeding chapters for those who run across the story in the middle, and then collect them all together and offer them in both e- and POD form. I don't know of anyone who has actually tried this, but it seems definitely worth a shot, and would boost reader return.

 

[Noah Body]

I think Locke's Donovan Creed stuff is one big continuing series, right? You can't pick one at random and expect to understand everything that's going on.

 

[merrihiatt]

Interesting idea. I can see why it would work. I like reading a complete story (that's why I buy all the books in a series or trilogy at one time, even if that means waiting until all the books are out before buying them all). I'll hole up for a weekend and read 'til my eyes blur. So, personally, I wouldn't want to read in increments.

 

[J. Tanner]

Also, since the e-pub movement is gaining strength, has anyone considered writing a serialized novel?

The Yesterday's Gone guys are doing a ground-up serial e-book project with positive (but not astronomical from the sound of it) results.

 

[merrihiatt]

Latest stats.

It's been almost a week and a half since the first book in the trilogy was offered free and it's now #71 and #8 on the respective free lists at Amazon that I've mentioned throughout this thread. The 2% free download to sales theory is still accurate. No increase in sales of books that are not in the trilogy in several days.

 

[defcon6000]

This is VERY interesting. Thanks for continuing to share this experiment, and good luck with the sales!

 

[merrihiatt]

My pleasure. If it can help someone else out, I'm more than happy to keep providing the info.

 

[merrihiatt]

Accidentally posted twice.

 

[merrihiatt]

Me, again. Latest stats as of 6:12pm on October 28th.

The 2% sell-through rate is still holding. The free e-book is at #80 on the Free Kindle Top 100 and #10 in the contemporary romance category. There is no doubt that being closer to the top of the rankings helps sales.

I expected the book to rise up fairly quickly and then drop out just as quickly, so each day it stays in the Free Top 100 and Top 20 in the genre specific category is encouraging.

I'm wondering when to put a price back on the free e-book. My first thought was to wait until it drops out of the Free Top 100. My second thought is, why put a price on it at all?

I have a trilogy slated for release in 2012 and I would like to try this process again (assuming it will still work) with a price point on the other two books in the trilogy of either $1.99 or $2.99. It would give me a point of reference to see if the $.99 cent price point was helpful or if readers are willing to purchase my e-books for a higher price.

I'm learning so much through this process.

The other question that comes to mind is, is it better to set a higher price and receive more in royalties or set a lower price and try to sell more quantity so you stay closer to the top of the rankings so people can find the book easier? Still considering the pros and cons of both options, not that they are mutually exclusive.

 

[izanobu]

I would price the second and third books at 2.99 (or more, I price my novels between 4.99 and 7.99 depending).

That 70% is worth it, and you are already giving away the first book (which seems to translate to more sales on books 2 and 3, and people would probably still buy 2 and 3 for just a few bucks more). The money to you would be the biggest difference. Looking at your latest stats, you've made about 190 bucks off the other two books. If you those priced at 2.99, you'd have made 1130 or so. I think it is worth the risk of a few less sales to offer a novel at more of a novel price (you could even offer book 2 at 2.99 and book 3 at 3.99 and see how it goes).

I had 17420 or so downloads of my thriller novel in the 9 days it was free. In the 3 hours since it went back to paid, I've had 14 sales at 5.99. That's for a stand-alone novel (well, there are more books, but they aren't out yet, I'll definitely repeat the experiment when I have a full series up). I think people are willing to pay more than .99 for a book they want to read, but I admit I'm in the minority when it comes to pricing.

 

[James D. Macdonald]

I'm offering my three backlist YA horror novels as e-texts for the same price as the paperback price was when they first came out twenty years ago. That seems fair to me.

 

[merrihiatt]

Thanks for the suggestion/info. I certainly see the financial benefit of increasing the price. I also see a benefit in a higher Amazon ranking.

 

[merrihiatt]

Latest stats as of 6:34pm on October 29th. Nice to see a slight bump in sales for the first e-book and the two short story e-books.

The sell-through rate has been increasing a bit the last couple of days and today it is almost at .025% (.0248). That equates to two and a half sales for every one hundred free e-book downloads.

 

[merrihiatt]

Latest stats as of October 30th at 7:15pm.

Today marked the books exit from the Kindle Top 100 Free Book List (currently #103, #12 in its specific genre category).

Late last night/early this morning, I changed the retail price on book number two and three of the trilogy to $2.99. I wasn't sure how this would impact sales. So far it seems to have reduced sales slightly, but that could also be because the book is no longer in the Top 100. The .025% sell-through rate is still holding.

I really appreciate the input on this thread. I don't think I would have changed the price point without it. One of the benefits of self-publishing is being able to try something different and then track sales/feedback/ranking to see how the change has affected book sales.

I'm curious to see what November will bring. I will be posting an update weekly after Tuesday (Tuesday marks two weeks since the book became free at Amazon).

I noticed that Amazon changed the price of the third book in the trilogy to $2.99, but not the second book. It is still priced at $.99 cents. This may be because Barnes and Noble is offering the book at $.99 cents still (the change of price at Smashwords hasn't caught up to their distributors yet). It does state that when you purchase the second book, you are saving $2.00, as the retail price is set at $2.99. That's an interesting little glitch I hadn't thought about. Can Amazon set any price they want for the e-book, even if the author has set the price? Will royalties be paid on the amount the author set the book for, or the amount Amazon is selling the book for? I expect no royalties from the free book, of course. I will spend some time at the HELP section of KDP and see what I can find out. Here's a link to the KDP Pricing Page. It answered all my questions. https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/help?topicId=A29FL26OKE7R7B

 

[izanobu]

Amazon will price match until BN changes to 2.99. You will get 70% of .99, so it is a slight benefit while the pricing changes over, at least.

Good luck with your series. I hope the 2.99 price works for you. I've sold 81 copies of my 5.99 thriller in the 48 hours since it went from free to not free. Being free definitely seems to help boost sales. I can't wait to try out a series, but that'll be a couple months at least.

Keep updating, it's cool to watch your progress with you

 

[merrihiatt]

Thanks, izanobu.

An interesting thing has been happening this evening. The book has found its way back into the Top 100 (#96 currently). I realize these rankings fluctuate a lot; however, I didn't think I would be back in the Top 100 after dropping down lower on the list.

I've also been comparing the number of downloads for the second and third book in the trilogy for each day and realized that the number of average downloads each day is increasing, not slowing down.

That is what I hoped would happen, but it really helps to see the day-to-day data and figure out rough averages.

 

[merrihiatt]

Latest stats as of October 31, 2011 at 10:30pm.

Sales are going well and I made it as high as #91 on the Top 100 Free Kindle Books List. I didn't look tonight, as I'm running behind a bit and didn't take the time to go check.

I'm doing NaNoWriMo this year, so will definitely start posting once a week after tomorrow (tomorrow marks the two-week point of when the e-book was listed free on Amazon).

 

[izanobu]

Out of curiosity, how many returns are you getting? I noticed when my thriller was free that 11 people returned it, which I found funny (who returns a free book? so weird!).

 

[merrihiatt]

IIRC, I had eight returns of the free book. No returns of any other books. I thought the same thing. It's free, if you didn't like it, delete it. I haven't deleted any books off my Kindle app for iPad. It never really occurred to me. Maybe when I get hundreds and hundreds of books on there, I'll be more apt to delete the ones I decided not to read.

 

[merrihiatt]

Latest stats showing a sell-through rate of seven percent. I'm receiving less downloads as the e-book slips further away from the Top 100 Free Kindle Book List, but a higher percentage of those who purchase the freebie are buying the second and third e-books. Fascinating.